A Breeze and a Shadow: A Warrior's Training
by UltimateKuranQueen
Summary: These are small drabbles for another story, called Looming Shadows. These are meant to help provide insight into the overall personalities and understanding of the characters. This is the warrior training of Shadowpaw and Breezepaw, and maybe a while beyond that. Enjoy the story.
1. Lesson Number One

A/N: I do not own the Warriors Series, any plot, characters, or anything that you recognize belong to Erin Hunter. These stories are drabbles for another story MelodyStarrWH called Looming Shadows, which should be up in a couple of days on her profile. Neither of the Main OCs are shown doing their warrior training. This is where you will find those moments. These drabbles are not in chronological order. They do, however, give provide helpful insight into the overall personalities and understanding of said characters. I am Shadowpaw and my best friend here is Breezepaw. Enjoy the story.

Lesson number one

To be fair, being a clan cat was not what I had expected. I had expected complicated rules and hard training. The rules were simple and pretty common sense if you thought about it. The training was a little tougher, but I wouldn't say it was hard.

Swimming was the first lesson, and probably the hardest for me to learn, Ivyclaw intended to teach me, but it was a more basic lesson he ended up teaching me that day.

"Get into the water." Ivyclaw growled at me.

"That seems like a lot of effort." I told him moving to the edge on his side to look at the lake water. "I can't see the bottom." I informed him.

"Are you going to get into the water or not?" he asked turning his back to me.

"I'm going to go with 'No she-cat'" I told him.

"Shadowpaw." A kind voice called from the right side of me. I turned to look at the cream tabby having spoken. She wasn't in the water anymore but her fur was plastered to her skin. "It's easier if you just get it over with."

"Aw Breezepaw, you look horrible." I informed her as well. My sass and attitude never seemed to phase her and she didn't treat me like I was some horrible kittypet. These were my first two mistakes. Mistake number one, and one I still haven't learned, I sassed Ivyclaw. Mistake number two, I had been paying too much attention to Breezepaw and not enough to my mentor and for that I paid the price.

Ivyclaw's powerful back leg caught me in the side and launched me into the water. I came up, and began to paddle my way over to the bank. "You'll have to swim faster than that if you want to be a true RiverClan cat." He yowled from the bank.

I made it to the bank and shock off. My long grey coat clung to my body and my normally fluffy tail was now thin and dead looking. I looked at my mentor in shock, "You kicked me into the water."

"You didn't listen to me." He growled. "You boast how you're going to be the best now look at you. You aren't even going to be mediocre if you can't even swim. This is RiverClan, not WindClan, not ThunderClan, or even ShadowClan. You can either learn this way or go back to being some kittypet."

I learned three lesson's that day. The first being how to swim properly. The second if you say you'll be the best to the clan leader, you best start learning to be the best cause the whole clan will hold you responsible for those words. And third, DO NOT MAKE IVYCLAW REPEAT HIS COMMANDS. It doesn't end well for me.


	2. Ivyclaw's Revelation

I do not own the Warriors Series, any plot, characters, or anything that you recognize belong to Erin Hunter. I as well as MelodyStarrWH own Shadowpaw, Breezepaw, Ivyclaw, and Mudfoot.

Ivyclaw sighed. He had just finished his watch that had lasted until moonhigh. He padded from the entrance of camp to the warrior's den. His new apprentice was wearing on his nerve. It had been four moon's since she had become a RiverClan apprentice and still she drove him up a tree. She was good, StarClan was she good. She picked up every lesson he had taught her quickly, except for swimming and after she learned to compensate for her fur, she picked that up quickly too. She was learning the code and living by it. No he had no complaints there. It was her attitude. Always hostile and always issuing challenges. She was so confrontational all the clan, save the little cream apprentice of Mudfoot's absolutely hated her. And if he were being honest, he practically despised her too.

Okay so maybe hate was too strong a word. Though they definitely didn't like her. The warriors scorned her for her claims of being the best when she first arrived. The apprentices grew jealous of because of how easy the lessons seemed to come to her. She did what she had to do and made no effort to get to know the other apprentices, who by all rights preferred her absence. Sleeping in the apprentice den was most likely a very strained event. Though the clan leader and deputy didn't seem to mind her as they spoke with her from time to time.

Ivyclaw was at a loss for what to do. He has tried to be nice to her, punish her by taking care of the elders, gather herbs for the medicine cat, extra sparring sessions, and even night watch. Nothing cured her rude mouth and sharp tongue.

He stretched and went to enter the warrior's den when a slight movement caught his eye by the elder's den. He padded softly over only to see the long and soft fur of his apprentice curled near the middle of the log. It was nearing leaf-fall and that meant it would be getting colder. Already it was cooler. He moved his paw to prodded her awake when the she-cat elder stopped her. "Do not wake her, Ivyclaw. She just fell asleep."

"She is supposed to be sleeping in the apprentice den." He told her. The elder looked sad.

"Oh Ivyclaw" she shook her head. "You see her, yet you only see what you want. She hasn't sleep in the apprentice den since half a moon after she joined River clan. She seems to prefer not making a grand scene every night before sleep. No apprentice save young Breezepaw will even provide her warmth."

Ivyclaw froze. "What? It's been nearly four moons since she came to RiverClan. Where has she slept since then? And if you knew why wasn't I informed?"

"I didn't inform you, Ivyclaw, for the same reason the other elders, Mistyfoot, and LeopardStar did not inform you. She asked us not to tell you or do anything about it. She said she didn't mind much and that it was her problem and posed no problem to the clan so she would take care of it." She smiled sadly. "You have a brave and loyal apprentice, but I fear she may take her personal battles too lightly."

"What does she do? It is highmoon. Why is she just now asleep?" he asked puzzled.

"You see your apprentice as confrontational and rude just like the rest of the clan yes?" The elder asked, but continued since she seemed to already know the answer. "Shadowpaw's actions speak much more than her words do. She was moving the moss in the elder's den around, because Heavystep complained of his side hurting. She will most likely gather moss tomorrow and replace the old with the new. Like she's done the last three moons."

Ivyclaw looked at his apprentice with a small smirk on his face. "You may yet be right young Shadowpaw. You may very well be the best cat in the clan already. Not from skill but from heart. Let's go before we wake her up with our gossiping Swallowtail. She has training in the morning."


	3. Ivyclaw's Lament

**A/N: I don't own any recognizable material. Any such material belongs to Erin Hunter.**

 ** _Ivyclaw's Lament_**

Ivyclaw glanced at the she-cat who was his apprentice. She was sharp-tongued and an attitude to back up what she said. Ivyclaw was never wanted to have kits or a mate. He just wasn't a cat that wanted to have another. His focus was to the clan and that was all. He didn't want the kind of pressure. He knew his father wasn't a good one, what hope did he have of being a father.

However he had come to think of this kit, no this cat as his own kin. She may have been intolerable to begin with, but now that he knew more about her, he was amazed by her. She was harsh to the point many hated her, but she cared for the elders even without having to be told. She accepted that the others did not like her, but hunted and waited for them to be fed. The queens felt like she was a bad influence on their kits, but she only ever reprimanded them when they were rough or course.

With her, actions meant much more than words. She may say many things, but the things she did proved she had the clan's best interests at heart. This was what Ivyclaw regretted most after what he had done to her and it burned him inside. She was laid up in the medicine den, having had claws rip up her face earlier at a gathering. The respect he had for her grow at that gathering when she didn't strike back the offending cat, he knew she was well within her rights to do so. He watched her with the other apprentice, Beechfur's apprentice and when Willowshine pronounced her fit to leave, just to be careful in training and to come back at high sun to get the webs changed.

"Shadowpaw, a word?" He asked her. She looked at me before nodding. He padded over to the apprentice den. "Are you sleeping in the den tonight?"

She looked at the tom with an intense look. "I might." She said honest, yet aloof as if it really didn't matter.

The ivy-eyed tom nodded, knowing it was the best he was going to get. "I feel I owe you an apology." He looked anywhere but at the young cat that sat quietly beside him. She looked up startled by his statement, then looked suspicious no one apologized to her. It just wasn't what they did. Yet here her mentor was apologizing to her.

"I don't understand why you are apologizing to me." She told him.

"You've seen the apprentice ceremony." He stated glancing at her. "I know that you know how it's done." He was tensing not wanting to do it, but he was proud enough to admit when he was wrong. "You know that a mentor and apprentice touch noses as a sign of respect. I apologize I didn't do that for you. I blatantly disrespected you, not that you knew it at the time. I did it all in an attempt to make known that I thought a kittypet wouldn't last in our world. I was wrong." He said. "I can admit at least that. For this I am sorry."

Shadowpaw looked at her mentor before she got up and padded lightly away. "Ridiculous Ivyclaw just ridiculous." His heart sort of broke a little because clearly her forgiveness was not something he would get. "You really should have known, I forgave you when you acknowledged me as one of the best." She turned her head with a cocky smile. "I'll see you for dusk patrol right." She said as she continued into the nearly empty apprentice den.

The cropped eared tom smirked. She was too good to be his apprentice of that he had no doubt, but he's glad she was. She was the closest thing he had to a daughter and he was proud of her. He was proud of how she had grown from cocky kittypet to the sharp-tongued yet kind apprentice. Ivyclaw was almost sure she was ready to become a warrior.


End file.
